Seven in a row and a sweep! It was a good night to don Yankees gear as the Bronx Bombers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 9-3 behind Michael Pineda’s arm and excellent hitting performances all around, especially from Greg Bird (!). It’s Sunday night so let’s do it bullet point style for this gamer:
- The big bombs: If you ask me, or most of the other Yankee fans, that Aaron Judge fly ball should’ve been a homer. From what I saw, the ball sure seemed to eek over the fence before an idiot fan Jeffrey Maier’d his own team. Interestingly enough, the umpires, upon reviewing the fly, ruled that the ball would not have cleared the fences and ordered Judge to stay at third (since he had already reached there by hustling). So many questions about that one, but Bird distracted the fans very quickly by hitting a two-seamer inside from Adam Wainwright deep into the bleachers for a two-run homer, giving Yankees a 3-1 lead. Also look who joined into the party: Aaron Hicks! Sluggin’ Hicks hit a tall fly that landed into the short porch in the bottom of fifth to give the Yankees a 4-1 lead. After tonight’s game, he has a .318/.484/.773 line in 31 PAs, which is Bonds-esque. Have no idea how long this hot Hicks streak will last so I’m just going to enjoy it now.
- The Greg Bird: Have you not heard? Bird is the word (okay, I won’t reference it ever again in the gamers). After starting the season with a 1-for-26 slump (.038 avg), Bird seemed like a totally different hitter tonight. He hit three balls on the screws for a 3-for-3 night with a walk, raising his season line to .138/.265/.310. Like many hitters have experienced, Bird was a triple away from the cycle. More importantly, after seeming helpless at the plate for the past few weeks, he hit the ball with absolute authority tonight. Here is a guy who needed a turning point this season and he may have gotten one tonight.
- Big Mike: After that mind-blowing start vs. the Rays last week, a lot of fans seem to wonder if the good Pineda would be back tonight. Well, he had two failing moments but that was it. In the second inning, he allowed a two-out RBI single to Greg Garcia that gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead. In the seventh, against Yadier Molina, he hung a slider in the zone and the Cardinals catcher sent it into the left field seats for a solo HR. So besides the familiar dinger and two-out RBI problems, Pineda looked great. Per Brooks Baseball, he got 12 whiffs, which is good. What is noteworthy, however, is that four of those came from his changeup. Pineda has two sure pitches and the changeup has been a work in progress for a long time. If he can establish consistency as a three-pitch pitcher all the way, he could have a very nice year heading into the free agency. Tonight’s outing brought Pineda’s ERA down to 3.44 and his FIP/xFIP are at 2.72 and 1.99 respectively. Pretty good.
- A barrage of runs: With a 4-2 lead into the bottom of eighth, and Dellin Betances having pitched a scoreless frame, it seemed like the Yankees were going to go with the Aroldis Chapman = closer equation for the ninth. However, that was interrupted by the five-run outburst by the offense. The Yankees got the bases loaded against Michael Socolovich (two walks and a single) and Austin Romine brought two of them in with a double, extending the lead to 6-2. Ronald Torreyes followed it up with a 2-RBI ground rule double to make it 8-2. Bottom of the lineup getting it done! Two batters later, Hicks hit a sac fly to drive in Torreyes. Bryan Mitchell allowed a run in one inning of work before closing out the game to make it 9-3, the final score.
- Box score, WP graph and standings: Head over to ESPN for box score and standings and Fangraphs for WPA graph.
Source: FanGraphs
The Yankees will next host the Chicago White Sox for a three-game series before they head to a six-game road trip. Jordan Montgomery and Derek Holland will be on the mound Monday. Enjoy the feeling of this seven-game winning streak until then.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.